Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic
Posted on 06/21/2002 6:26:26 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
SHOW LOW - One of the worst fires in the state's history grew to a monstrous size Thursday as thousands fled their homes through choking ash and firefighters stood helplessly as the inferno ripped through the Valley's high-country summer playland.
By late Thursday, the fire roaring along the Mogollon Rim had virtually emptied six towns, forced 5,200 people from their homes, burned about 50 structures and had grown to 85,000 acres, an area slightly larger than Mesa.
Flames slashed across Arizona 260 between Heber and Show Low.
The blaze more than 100 miles northeast of Phoenix was a vicious freak that gobbled ground even at night, when most fires ease. The smoke cloud was visible in downtown Phoenix beyond Camelback Mountain.
It formed a superheated tornado that sucked flames hundreds of feet high, then spit them back out, spewing embers that sparked new blazes.
"We inherited a monster, and we're still trying to get our feet on the ground," said Jim Paxon, a spokesman for the firefighting team.
Fire officials suspect an arsonist set the original blaze, called the "Rodeo" fire because it started near the Rodeo Fairgrounds five miles northeast of Cibecue on the Fort Apache Reservation.
Three much smaller fires added to firefighters' woes. Near Heber, a woman who got lost Thursday started a signal fire that sparked the "Chediski" fire. She was rescued by a Channel 5 (KPHO) helicopter, but the fire had charred 2,500 to 4,200 acres by midnight. In Cibecue, 50 acres burned in an area near the start of the Rodeo fire after the original fire died at the site, but reignited or was reset.
The "Big" fire in Coconino County burned 100 acres but was expected to be contained by late Thursday.
After the Rodeo fire started, it swept north and northeast toward Heber, Show Low and towns in between. A change in the wind drove the fire away from Show Low late Thursday afternoon onto forest land, but weather conditions are still chancy, said Dorman McGann, a spokesman for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.
"It's got about seven, eight miles that it can run and then it'll run into grassland," McGann said. "At that point we stand a pretty good chance of catching it."
Winds forecast
But winds today are forecast to be as strong as those Thursday, from 10 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph, and fire officials hope they don't change course.
Officials remained edgy after a day in which the situation grew increasingly desperate.
The exodus from high country towns continued late Thursday afternoon as 4,000 residents of Heber and Overgaard were evacuated, heading to the Valley or northeast toward Holbrook.
Earlier, the 7-mile-wide fire overran parts of the 390-resident town of Pinedale, a largely upscale community about 10 miles west of Show Low that had emptied out Wednesday. Firefighters said about 50 structures, including homes and outbuildings in and around the town, were torched.
Flames and smoke were so fierce in Pinedale that firefighters could do little but run. All five fire engines reserved for saving houses were forced to pull out minutes before flames sealed off their only escape route.
Linden, Clay Springs and Aripine also were evacuated.
Thick black smoke began advancing on Pinedale around 10:45 a.m. Thursday. Within 15 minutes, flames began bursting through the plumes, an indication that a house or other structure had caught fire.
At least 75 Pinedale residents who had fled during the night to Eagar, about 55 miles away, were told around noon Thursday that the fire had overtaken their town. Some evacuees wept as others stared in disbelief.
State Rep. Debra Brimhall, a Republican from Pinedale, said the homestead that her great-grandfather started burned early Thursday.
"My three buildings are consumed in flames," a tearful Brimhall told the state Parks Board after driving to the Valley to testify about state parks closures.
She said she and her relatives were able to salvage her great-grandmother's wedding dress, antique mirrors and family photos before evacuating Wednesday night.
'It's just too aggressive'
Things simply got too hot even for firefighters Thursday afternoon. They were pulled off the front line when flames heated in excess of 2,000 degrees and burned ponderosa and piñon pines faster than crews could run or drive.
Some volunteer firefighters watched helplessly as flames engulfed the area around their homes.
Hundreds of residents in Show Low fled to avoid choking smoke, and thousands more prepared to evacuate as shifting winds kept changing the fire's direction.
Whichever way the fire advanced, its intensity frustrated and neutralized firefighters.
"We just can't get out in front of this fire," Bob Dyson, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman said early in the day. "It's just too aggressive."
Some volunteers became involved in heated exchanges with sheriff's deputies who blocked their attempts to return to their homes. They hastily jumped into their pickup trucks and sped off to get around the blockades.
Volunteers also worried about people who had refused to leave their homes on Wednesday, well before the fire reached them. At least one person in Heber, two in Pinedale and four more in nearby Clay Springs were known to have stayed behind.
Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic
The fire roared through juniper trees, darkening the midday sky and sending plumes of smoke that could be seen more than 100 miles away. Officials said the smoke had wafted as far east as Albuquerque.
Smoke over Holbrook
Early Thursday, the massive plume of smoke from the Rodeo fire had stretched 50 miles to the north, covering Holbrook and the southern part of the Navajo Nation in a layer of ash. Motorists on their lunch break had to turn their lights on, and visibility was only about two city blocks. The smoke was dense enough to block the sun.
Some Holbrook residents had to cover their faces with handkerchiefs as they walked down the streets.
About 150 evacuees found shelter at Holbrook High School, said Tony Ayers of the American Red Cross.
Tom Lynch, 60, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, was a volunteer this week at the command post for the Rodeo fire, helping people evacuate out of Linden, when the call came for the evacuation of his Overgaard home.
He and his wife, Sharon, 57, were spending Thursday night at the shelter.
"It's unusual being on this end of a disaster," he said. "I'm usually on the responding end of a disaster. "
His wife packed what she could by herself, while he stayed at his post.
"It feels like I'll wake up and this won't be happening," Sharon said. "But of course it is."
More than 15,000 more people might have to evacuate the fire area if it continues to march on their homes.
No official word had come that Show Low was being evacuated. But Israel Caballero, 37, his wife and three children showed up at an Eagar shelter Thursday night with five other families who said they were told by a deputy to leave an area southwest of Show Low.
Ready to evacuate
About 700 law enforcement officials from Maricopa, Apache and Cochise counties and the state Department of Public Safety were ready to assist if Show Low was evacuated.
Unprecedented aid efforts were made by Valley public agencies. All court proceedings involving in-custody inmates were canceled for today at the request of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He said the move freed up 75 sworn deputies to aid firefighting efforts in Navajo County, allowing him to assign 250 sworn deputies.
The Phoenix Fire Department sent 28 firefighters and seven trucks to the Show Low area, the first time it has sent crews outside the Valley to help a city answer emergency calls.
Republic staff members Judi Villa, Pat Flannery, Brent Whiting, Carlos Miller, Mark Shaffer, Mary Jo Pitzl and Jon Sidener contributed to this article.
That woman here who lit that "signal" fire, and the one in CO who is now said to have set it to "make herself look good" when she put it out (which she didn't) are beyond comprehension!
g in Phx, AZ
Good luck and stay safe.
Oh yeah, things you might want to start collecting for your firefighters... bandanas...flashlights...batteries...bandaids...mole skin...chapstick...shovels...2.5 gallon gas cans...leather gloves(without cuffs)...water...gatorade...eye drops...nose drops...beef jerky...trail mix...cash
that would make it growing about 100,000 acres in 24 hours...Unbelievable!
g
45 mph wind ... twice as strong as yesterday.
g
It doesn't sound like the names of towns or locations.
g
As far as the other names, I have no clue how they are/were named. My guess is that it starts with whatever the local FD starts calling it, for whatever reason.
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